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St. Lawrence in Damaso is a parish and titular church in Rome. In the Catholic Church, each cardinal is assigned a church in the Diocese of Rome. This designation signifies a relationship between the cardinal, as a member of the assigned church, and the Pope who is the Bishop of the Diocese of Rome. Cardinals are assigned churches as honorary designation and should not for any reason interfere in matters concerning parish administration. Churches in Rome with an assigned cardinal are known as titular churches.

St. Lawrence in Damaso is dedicated to St Lawrence who met the future Pope Sixtus II when they traveled from Spain to Rome. When Sixtus became pope in 257, he ordained Lawrence, then age 22, as deacon. In the persecutions under the Emperor Valerian in 258, numerous bishops, priests, and deacons were put to death. Pope Sixtus II was one of the first victims of this persecution, executed by being beheaded. After the death of Sixtus, it was Roman authorities demanded that Lawrence, who was a deacon in charge of the Church treasury, turn over the church riches to the Imperial treasury. Lawrence asked for three days to “gather the wealth”. Lawrence was given the three-day extension. He then quickly distributed as much Church property to the indigent population as possible, so as to prevent it from being seized by the Imperial treasury. After three days, when he was again ordered to deliver the treasures of the Church, Lawrence presented the indigents, the crippled, the blind, and the suffering, declaring that these were the “true treasures” of the Church. Needless to say, Deacon Lawrence was arrested, quickly tried, and executed by being slowly roasted alive on a great giant gridiron. During his torture St. Lawrence eloquently told his tormentors to “turn me over; this side is cooked enough”. 
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<a title="Lalupa, CC BY-SA 3.0 <http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/>, via Wikimedia Commons" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Parione_-_san_Lorenzo_in_Damaso_01448.JPG"><img style='border-radius: 4%' height='300' alt="Parione - san Lorenzo in Damaso 01448" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1d/Parione_-_san_Lorenzo_in_Damaso_01448.JPG/256px-Parione_-_san_Lorenzo_in_Damaso_01448.JPG"></a>
<a title="antmoose, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Roma-sanlorenzoindamaso3.jpg"><img style='border-radius: 4%' height='300' alt="Roma-sanlorenzoindamaso3" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4e/Roma-sanlorenzoindamaso3.jpg/512px-Roma-sanlorenzoindamaso3.jpg"></a>
 
▲ Pictured above are exterior and interior photos of San Lorenzo in Damaso 
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Church Building History 
• Archaeological evidence suggest site may have housed a pagan temple 
• In 380s erected a church on this site 
• Church was demolished by Cardinal Raffaele Riario (nephew of Pope Sixtus IV) and was rebuilt with an imposing Renaissance style 
• damaged by fire and was restored in 1944 
 
The St. Lawrence in Damaso church has several interesting items in it. The main altar hosts the painting of Saints and Coronation of St. Mary by Federico Zuccari. Below the altar are the relics of Pope Eutychian and Pope Damasus I. This church has an altarpiece of Virgin with Sts. Philip Neri and Nicolò. To the left of the altar is a copy of a statue of St. Hippolytus of Rome. There is also a statue of St. Francis Xavier and St. Charles Borromeo by Stefano Maderno. Also there is also a memorial to Pellegrino Rossi. 
St. Lawrence in Damaso church is probably not high on everone's must see list when visiting Rome, but it does have some interesting things to see. It does not have a links to a lot of Vatican stamps.
 
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<a title="www.hermetic.com/ sabazius/hippolytus.htm, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HippolytusStatue.JPG"><img height='300' alt="HippolytusStatue" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9b/HippolytusStatue.JPG/256px-HippolytusStatue.JPG"></a></center> 
▲ St. Hippolytus of Rome was one of the most important second-third century Christian theologians, Traditional teachings that it was St. Lawrence who instigated the conversion of St. Hippolytus to the Catholic faith.
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<a title="Lalupa, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Parione_-_san_Lorenzo_in_Damaso_-_Pellegrino_Rossi_01262.JPG"><img height = '300' alt="Parione - san Lorenzo in Damaso - Pellegrino Rossi 01262" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f6/Parione_-_san_Lorenzo_in_Damaso_-_Pellegrino_Rossi_01262.JPG/256px-Parione_-_san_Lorenzo_in_Damaso_-_Pellegrino_Rossi_01262.JPG"></a></center> 
▲ The monument to Pellegrino Rossi, 6th Papal Minister of the Interior. His murder in 1848 was part of the events that led to events of Pope Pius IX losing control of the Papal States and the rise of the Italian State. </td></tr>
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<td><img src='../VPS/images/296/256.jpg' height='200'> 
St Lawrence Scott 256 (1959)</td>
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<td><img src='https://vaticanstamps.org/VPS/images/296/995.jpg' height='200'> 
St Philip of Neri Scott 995 (1949)</td></tr>
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References 
• George Weigel, "Tuesday Of The Fourth Week Of Lent - Station at St. St. Lawrence in Damaso" Roman Pilgrimage - The Station Churches Basic Books, Copyright 2013, pages 204-209 
• <a href='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_titular_churches'>List of titular churches</a> Wikipedia 
• <a href='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Lorenzo_in_Damaso'>San Lorenzo in Damaso</a> Wikipedia 
Photos are for the Wikipedia articles cited above.

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